Swades 2004

Swades is a 2004 Indian Bollywood drama, social film released on Dec 17, 2004. The film is directed by Ashutosh Gowariker, produced by Ashutosh Gowariker.

Swades is the story of a successful Indian scientist who is settled in America. He comes to Indian, to his village to take his nanny to America with him but after coming back to his country, he rediscovers his roots and is unable to go back.

Mohan Bhargava (Shah Rukh Khan) is a scientist working at N.A.S.A. One day he feels sad that he has not kept in touch with his nanny, Kaveri amma after his parents' death and she is in an old age home in Delhi. He makes an impromptu plan to visit her in Delhi (where he finds that she is now in Charanpur in North India) in order to bring her back to USA, so that she can have a comfortable life.
When he reaches Charanpur, he finds that Kaveri amma stays with her niece Geeta (Gayatri Joshi), a modern and strong-willed girl who is keen to have her own identity.
Mohan starts liking Geeta, but a clash occurs between the two over Kaveri amma. Mohan also finds the sad state of rural India and wants to do something to improve the situation in his short stay. He befriends the local postmaster Nivaran and a dhaba wala Mela Ram.
He starts opposing practices in the village and creates a storm within the village with his new-age thoughts.
Mohan then decides in acting himself for the improvement of the village.
He helps in getting more students in Geeta's primary school and also plans a mega project to bring electricity in the village. In this while a change occurs in Mohan and he finds his roots.
Geeta accepts his love, but his pet project demands him to go back to USA, and Geeta refuses to go with him to USA, creating a huge dilemma for Mohan

Swades is inspired by the story of Aravinda Pillalamarri and Ravi Kuchimanchi the NRI couple who returned to India and developed the pedal power generator to light remote, off-the-grid village schools. Set in modern day India, Swades is a film that tackles the issues that development throws up on a grass root level. It is to this India, which is colorful, heterogeneous and complex that Mohan Bhargava (Shah Rukh Khan), a bright young scientist working as a project manager in NASA, returns to on a quest to find his childhood nanny. The film uses the contrast between the highly developed world of NASA, which has been at the forefront of advances in space research, and this world back home in India, which is at the crossroads of development. Mohan's simple quest becomes the journey that every one of us goes through in search of that metaphysical and elusive place called "home". Check out this page for more updates on Swades.